Save up to 50 per cent on long-haul flights with this booking trick

You could make big savings next time you're searching for long haul flights - and halve the price of tickets to cities likes Cape Town and Tokyo

By Rosie Gizauskas

15th May 2018,12:53 pm

Updated: 17th May 2018,1:02 pm

EVERYONE wants a good deal on a flight – so how about 50 per cent off long haul ones?

A secret flight hack called “hidden city” deals means you can do just that on long-haul flights.
Jack Sheldon from Jack’s Flight Club told Sun Online Travel about the trick which works well on British Airways and Virgin Atlantic flights.

He said: “It can be incredibly expensive to fly on some direct routes from the UK to cities like Cape Town or Tokyo.

“British Airways flights from London to Cape Town, for example, cost between £844 and £1,011 direct.

If you fly from Amsterdam instead of Heathrow then your costs can be halved – you just need a cheap budget airline flight to Amsterdam on the way there

“This involves searching for the same flight on the same airline from another ‘hidden’ city nearby in Europe such as Amsterdam, Frankfurt or Stockholm.

Jack recommends using Google Flights to do this.

He continues: “By flying from Amsterdam instead of London you can get a ticket to Cape Town in December on British Airways, for just £438 return – almost a 50 per cent saving.

“Even better is that the Amsterdam flight stops off at a different London airport on the way back than the one it stopped at on the way there – Gatwick, rather than London City – so on the way back, you can collect your checked baggage, and skip the flight back to Amsterdam.

“All you need to do then is book a cheap Ryanair or easyJet flight over to Amsterdam to start your trip off – and these fares can be very low, as we all know.”

It’s worth bearing in mind that you should only take hand luggage on board these flights if you want to be able to get off in the UK on the way back without having to fly back to where the flight started – such as Amsterdam.

Unless, like in this case, there is a change of airport on the way home.

By flying from Amsterdam instead you’ll make big savings – and even fly direct to Heathrow on the way back

Another example that Jack found is on return flights to Tokyo in November.

A non-stop flight from Heathrow to Tokyo on British Airways costs £820 for a round trip.

However by starting the journey in Amsterdam you’ll pay just £520 return.

Again, this option returns back to Amsterdam via Heathrow, so you can disembark here and collect your baggage on the return leg without having to return to Amsterdam – but only because there is a change of UK airport on the way back.

Remember, if there isn’t, you should only travel with hand luggage or you’d have to fly back to Amsterdam to receive your bags.

This is effectively a direct flight on the way home, with a discount of 37 per cent on the return flights as a whole.

Jack advises that these deals change often.

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He said: “These fares change often and these are the ones I found today, but in a few days these might be gone.

“The next ones could be to Cancun, Rio de Janeiro or somewhere else – it’s impossible to predict where, but very worth checking as the savings could be huge.”

Sun Online Travel previously reported that British Airways is offering cheap five star holidays to the likes of Prague, Marbella and more including flights from just £12pp.

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